cleaning a whole rack of carbs?

so I'm getting a set of 28mm mikuni's in the mail and they look like they need a good cleaning. Should I disassemble the whole rack or can I soak them all at once? And speaking of soaking them, what shoudl I soak them in? What should I absolutely NOT soak them in? Thanks

Did the previous owner say they were clean or dirty? Pull the bowls off and look at everything first. Do the slides look discolored and do they snap back fast. If not I would break them down and clean them. BERKEBILE 2+2® GUM CUTTER
Stock No. B101, B2021, B2025, B20255 is a fantastic spray cleaner. If they smell or look dirty dont mess around and waste time. Break them down and clean them piece by piece. Plus you will learn about your carbs...Russ

www.berkebileoil.com/special.htm

PO sent me some pics... the slides actually looked good, but they're mainly just dirty on the outside. I don't know what the inside of the bowls look like, so that will be first. I have new gaskets and machine screws for them so I'll at least be replacing the old ones.

other side

close up

last one

I would pull the bowls spray clean them. Put some sea foam in the tank. New filter and hook them up and try...Russ

Bicycle Lee wrote:

so I'm getting a set of 28mm mikuni's in the mail and they look like they need a good cleaning. Should I disassemble the whole rack or can I soak them all at once? And speaking of soaking them, what shoudl I soak them in? What should I absolutely NOT soak them in? Thanks

Absolutely do not soak them in lye.

I'd completely break them down, clean everything and replace the O rings.

That way you know exactly what you have. Why get tangled up in someone else's problem or bad work?

You should note the sizes of all the main and pilot jets and needle positions.

After 30 years, there's a good chance that some one did something you need to correct.

if these carbs are going onto a rider and you don't really care about how they look and you want to save a bit of time pull the bowls off and check your float heights look at your main jets to see if you will have to jet up and then pull the pilots out and spray areosol carb cleaner in the passages then blow them out with compressed air make sure that you get air flow thru them all then reset all your fuel or air screws to factory specs to start with to give yourself something to start with. i don't like taking racks of carbs apart unless it is absolutly needed. in fact the only times i have every had to pull a rack of carbs right apart in over 18 years and hundreds of plugged up carbs was when the owners wanted to do a resto.i have found over the years that just like doing body work on cars nothing ever seems to line up right with out tweeking a bit so it can be a real pain to strip them right down.

If it was me, I'd pull the top covers off, pull the slides out, drop off the bottom bowls, remove pilots/mains. Then with the rest of the carbs still assembled boil them in some lemon juice. You'll need a big roaster pan, a little over a gallon of lemon juice (cooking supply stores), and an understanding wife/girlfriend cause the sh*ts gonna stink a little. Boil them for about 15 minutes, then rinse them really well and blow them dry with compressed air (make sure all passages are clean). You'll be amazed at how clean they come in that short of a time.

lemon juice, eh?
I might have to give that a try. They should be waiting for me when I get home from work, so we'll see....